Katrina's charm
by Candra Jade
Summary: Movie based Ichabod is completely under Katrina's spell. But will he still love her if he finds out about her secret?Rating might change.
1. Chapter 1

**Katrina's Charm**

Disclaimer: Sleepy Hollow doesn't belong to me (neither the movie nor the novel) and I'm making no money with this.

**Chapter 1**

It was Ichabod's and Katrina's wedding day. They had decided to get married in New York, because Katrina wanted to burn her bridges and to start over new. She had sold her father's house and land and taken the next train with Ichabod and Masbeth. They were standing in a small chapel, only the three of them and a priest, who was asking Katrina and Ichabod to say their vows now.

"Miss Van Tassel, do you want to start?" He asked.

_Now is the last chance to tell him before he marries you, _Katrina told herself. But how he would he react? Would he freak out? Did she even have to tell him? There was a good chance he would never find out on his own. If his love for her was real, nothing would change between them during the next days. But what if it was only based on an illusion? Would the magic of their love be gone soon?

"Miss Van Tassel?" The priest asked. Ichabod looked concerned at his wife-to-be.

Katrina gave him a quick smile and met his gaze. "Ichabod, you are the most caring, kind and smart man I have ever met. I was fascinated by your friendly voice even before I saw you. And when I finally opened my eyes to look into your tender eyes, I was lost. What was fascination at the beginning grew deeper with each day. And when you gave me the most previous gift I've ever received – a bird, beautiful and perfect, mine, but still free - I knew for sure that I loved you. And I started to believe that this is how love can be- how our love can be. We can love and treasure each other; we can belong to each other, but still be free and whole as individuals. I love you, Ichabod Crane, with everything I have and with everything I am and I will always do. Please do not forget that ever, no matter what the future brings," Katrina said, her voice quivering at the last words.

"Mr. Crane, are you ready to reply?" The priest asked.

Ichabod nodded trying to blink away the tears in his eyes. "I did not believe in magic when I came to Sleepy Hollow but my first meeting with you proved me wrong. A kiss by a stranger challenged my whole world. As a scientist, I did not believe in love at first sight. I was wrong. I have been under your spell since this very first moment. I tried to deny that, but I could not help it. My heart races and my mind spins whenever I look into your eyes. And for the first time in my life I am not searching for an explanation. I am just happy and enjoy the being bewitched by you. I love you, Katrina Van Tassel and I want to spend the rest of my life under your spell."

Tears were streaming down Katrina's face now. But it weren't happy tears like you might think. It were tears of fear and guilt. _But he did say he fell in love with you this very first day. Was that true or was his confused mind playing a trick on him and influenced his memory? _

"Now that Katrina Van Tassel and Ichabod Crane have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, I pronounce that they are husband and wife, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder. You may now kiss the bride."

Ichabod kissed Katrina and she returned the kiss with desperate passion.

Later that evening, Ichabod stood in their bedroom, nervously waiting for Katrina to come out of the bathroom. He was afraid to disappoint Katrina during their wedding night. How should he tell her that he had never been with a woman before? Something else was bothering him, too. Katrina had been quite withdrawn and sad during the ceremony. Was she having doubts? Was she already regretting marrying him?

Katrina stood in the bathroom. She had been ready changing into a beautiful night gown for half an hour, but was afraid to come out. _I have to tell him now. You can't base a marriage on a lie. _But how could she tell him what she was and what she had done?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Finally, Katrina opened the bathroom door and entered the bedroom, seeing Ichabod standing at the window, staring into the backyard. He did not notice that his wife had entered the room until Katrina softly placed a hand on his shoulder. He startled at her touch.

"I am sorry, I did not hear you. You … you look beautiful," he stammered when he took in her appearance.

Katrina softly caressed his cheeks before she traced the outline of his lips with her fingers. Ichabod was stunned at first, but then he started shyly stroking her hair, admiring his wife's beauty. When he slowly leaned in to kiss her, Katrina's thoughts started spinning again.

_I could just give in, kiss my husband and never tell him. It would not hurt anybody, right? I would be a good wife to him and do what I can to make him happy. No. _She shook her head._ It just was not right. He deserved to know the truth._

Ichabod had noticed Katrina shaking her head and backed away. "Did I do something wrong? You have to know I am not really good at these kind of things."

Katrina gave him a sad smile. "No, not you are the one who did something wrong. There is something I have to tell you. I should have told you earlier, but I just did not find the right moment." She took a deep breath, trying to find the courage to continue. "Ichabod, I'm a witch."

Ichabod opened his mouth to say something but when he noticed nothing would come out he closed it again. Katrina took his disability to speak as a chance to finish what she had to say. _Now or never,_ she told herself. "I have been practicing magic for some years now. Healing and Protection spells most of the time. But now I did something I had sworn myself not to do ever. I used a spell to manipulate. I used a love spell on you, Ichabod."

That was it. She had said it. If he would just say anything instead of simply staring at her.

Eventually, Ichabod came out of his trance and backed further away from Katrina. "You… you hexed me?" He asked, stunned. "Everything I feel for you is not real? What I thought was love is just my mind playing tricks on me, because you used a spell?"

Katrina reached for her husband, but he rejected her touch. "Ichabod, please listen to me. A love spell cannot create feelings if there is not already a basis. That the spell worked and that you married me shows that you already had feelings for me. You told me yourself that you were attracted to me since the beginning."

"Do not dare to mention my vow now! How can I know that I am not just thinking I felt attracted to you then? I have no idea what you did to my mind. I have no reason to ever believe anything you say."

Katrina's eyes started to fill with tears. "Ichabod, please believe me, I didn't want to force you to do anything you do not want. I just did not want you to leave Sleepy Hollow before your feelings had a chance to develop. I knew you would only stay until you had solved the case and I knew that would not take you long. I did not want to lose you, because you are the most amazing man I have ever known. That evening, when you gave this booklet with the bird to me, I knew that I am in love with you. Then I decided to do this spell. I just wanted to give our love a chance."

"Then you achieved the opposite of what you wanted. I did not marry you out of free will and that makes the promise I gave you null and void."

Ichabod went to the dresser furiously and threw Katrina the first dress he grabbed. "Get dressed. You will leave tonight. I will wake up Masbeth. He can bring you to a hotel or the station or wherever you want to go. I do not want to see you again."

Katrina did not know what to say. She had never seen the man she loved that cold and angry. She had not known that this gentle, caring person was even capable of such behavior.

"Ichabod, please…" she pleaded, the tears now freely running down her face.

"Get dressed!" He repeated and turned towards the window again.

Not knowing what else to say, Katrina obeyed and went back into the bathroom.

Ichabod kept staring out of the window until he heard the door close behind him. Then he started furiously throwing Katrina's belongings into her suitcase. Katrina had been the only person he had loved after losing his mother. She had been the only person he trusted with his heart. And now she had betrayed him. Right now the only feeling he was aware of was anger and he did not want to feel anything else. If he allowed any other feelings than anger he would have to deal with the ache this abuse of confidence caused and he did not know if he could bear that right now.

When Katrina left the bathroom she found her suitcase already packed. Ichabod was standing at the window again.

"I want you to take that back," Katrina handed Ichabod the bird booklet. "It is the only personal belonging I had of you and so I used it for the spell. If I do not have it anymore the spell will lose his effect within a few days, a week at the utmost. If you really never really loved me, it will be over then."

With a heavy heart Katrina gave the precious gift away. Ichabod took it, avoiding looking into Katrina's eyes. "Masbeth is waiting in the hall," was all he said.

Katrina took her suitcase and opened the door when Ichabod turned his back on her again.

"I love you. I always have and I always will," Katrina told her husband before she left.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Ichabod stood by the window all night. He just stared into the darkness and tried unsuccessful not to think about Katrina. He did not want to wonder where she would go or if she was warm enough out there in the ice-cold night.

_She is not freezing. She has enough money from the heritage of her father. She will find a nice hotel and stay there until she finds another man to mess with. But her voice sounded so broken when she told me she loved me. Maybe she had been honest._

"Stop that" Ichabod told himself. He took his wedding band of and threw it in the corner of his room.

He would not allow himself to think about her anymore. Ichabod decided to get dressed and to go for a walk. That would clear his head. But soon he realized that everything around him reminded him of her. When he came past a book store he could not keep himself from looking into the window and thinking about which book she might like. When he noticed a jewelry stall on the marked he wondered how she would look with a certain pair of earrings or a brooch. Whenever he saw a rider he thought about how graceful she looked on a horse. _She has really messed with his my mind. I hope she said the truth when she told me it would be over within a week. And I hope I will not go crazy missing her in the meantime._

Katrina had taken the next train back to Sleepy Hollow. She did not know what to do now and she needed a familiar place to stay and clear her thoughts. So she had decided to live in the small hut in the forest where she had spent a part of her childhood. Of course she could have afforded a fancy hotel. Her father had been a rich man and as his only relative she had inherited all his money. But she did not want an anonymous room. She needed a place that reminded her of the times when her parents had both been alive. A time in which her father had not been a rich and busy man. The three of them had been poor and they did not have anything but each other. It had been the most happy and carefree time of her whole life.

Katrina had hoped to retrieve this feeling of contentedness and belonging with Ichabod. A part of her still hoped that he would come back to her. Maybe he would realize that his feelings for her were not only induced by the spell and then come back to her. But she knew the chances were not good.

_I cannot seriously expect him to ever trust me again. Ichabod is a man whose trust is hard to gain and easy to loose. He probably never had anyone who deserved this gift. I intended to change that, to make him happier than he has ever been before. You really succeeded, Katrina._ _There is no better way to gain the trust of the love of your live than putting a spell on him. But what should I have done? I knew he would not need a long time to solve the case. And a man who is as careful as Ichabod would have never proposed to a girl he knew for only some weeks without a little help. He would not have taken the risk to share his life with a woman he barely knew. He would have thought what he felt is just a short-lived attraction. But what if it had been exactly that? Many men have told me that I am a beautiful and interesting woman. Maybe Ichabod had only been fascinated by a mysterious and lively beauty, a woman who was different from the women he knew. Would he have gotten bored with me after the initial attraction had gone? Will he still care enough about me to even ask himself these kinds of questions when the effects of my spell subside? _

When it started to get dark outside Katrina curled down on the plain mattress she used as a bed, softly caressing her wedding band and wishing it were Ichabod, until she finally cried herself to sleep, not knowing that her husband was doing exactly the same thing far away from her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Katrina woke up a few hours later. The comfortable fire she had made was now only a slight glow.

It was freezing cold. Katrina pulled her cape tighter and sighed. She could not stay in her old home. She had to listen to the voice of reason once in her life and find a hotel in the morning. Katrina had never been good at listening to reason. She had always been a person who trusted her emotions and her intuition. Her father had always found that very disturbing. The young woman smiled sadly at the memory of her dead father. They had had their fights, but she knew that he had only wanted her best. She remembered the day they moved out of the hut. Her father had been thrilled by the thought of finally being able to give both the women in his life everything they deserved in his eyes. But Katrina had never been a person who could be made truly happy with a fancy dress or an expensive piece of jewellery. It were the small things that reached her heart, the ones which showed the love of the giver. Like the little "bird" Ichabod gave her. She had loved it from the moment she first saw it and the day he proposed to her Ichabod had given it to her. He had tried to explain to her how the trick worked on their way to New York, but she had stopped him. Katrina preferred to continue believing it was magic, like she preferred to believe that not coincidence but her love had saved Ichabods life when the horseman had attacked him, but only damaged the spell book she had given him. Ichabod had told her that it had been his love for her that saved him, because he wanted to keep the gift of the woman he loved right above his heart. Katrina wondered, if Ichabod still had the book or if he had burned it right after she left.

Ichabod woke up early from a fitful sleep. He had not been able to find rest tonight, because his dreams were haunted by the woman he loved. _Stop thinking that! You do not love her. It is just your hexed mind playing tricks on you. All you need is a distraction to keep your thoughts of her for the next six days. It will be the best if you start to work again. Yes, that will definitely help._

It did not take Ichabod long to realize had had been wrong. He was unfocused the whole day and his colleagues wondered what was wrong with the man, who had been considered a little weird, but definitely a genius. He did not snap at the Constables for moving things on a crime scene or demanded to do what he called an "autopsy". Constable Crane still worked with his strange liquids and instruments, but they caught him several times just staring into space instead of watching chemical reactions. One of the braver young men had asked their boss if he was alright, but Crane had only snapped at him and told him to attend to his affairs.

A few days after Ichabod had started working again he was sent to investigate the death of a young woman. He found the body lying on the bottom of the stairs. After a close inspection of the surrounding, Ichabod came to the conclusion that the woman was not a crime victim. She had simply stumbled on the old and rotten stairs.

When Ichabod left the house he paid little attention to the crowd of curious onlookers standing at the entrance until a middle-aged woman addressed him.

"I knew she would do it one day, everybody knew!" She said in a shrill tone.

"Who would do what Ma'am?" Ichabod asked in his usual matter-of-fact-tone.

"The old hag living next door to the poor thing. Everybody knew she would kill somebody someday!"

"I do not know which problems you may or may not have with said lady, but I can assure you that Mrs. Livingstons death was an accident."

"Lady!" The woman snorted. "She is a witch, everybody knows that!. She can make people have 'accidents' ".

A few months ago Ichabod would have assessed this statement as the weak accusation of a poorly educated superstitious woman, but after what he had seen in Sleepy Hollow and what Katrina had done to him he saw the statement in a different light.

"Do you have any valid evidence that the person we are talking about is in fact a ... witch?" Ichabod still did not feel comfortably using that term.

"Evidence? The hag plants many strange herbs in her garden and she only gathers them at midnight in full moon nights. I live across the street and in one night I saw her in the garden. She had lit a fire there and above it was a cauldron in which she put the fresh gathered herbs, murmuring strange words in a foreign language. I ask you: Would a woman who is not witch do such things?"

"Well... I do not know, but I should most definitely speak to said person. In which house does she live?"

The angry neighbor showed Ichabod the way and a minute later he found himself standing on the doorstep of the "witch house", knocking hesitantly.

The woman who opened the door looked like the incarnation of the fairy-tale witch. She was very old, had messy grey hair and was wearing mismatched clothes. The only missing thing to complete the picture was a raven or a black cat.

"Good morning, Ma'am, my name is Constable Ichabod Crane; I am here to investigate the death of Mary Livingston. My I come in for a moment?"

"I guess one of my nosy neighbors told you I killed that woman with my magical powers," she answered, coming straight to the point.

"Did you?" Ichabod replied, equally blunt while the woman let him to a dusty living room.

"No, I have nothing to do with her death, Constable Crane," she answered, sitting down in a ragged armchair. "Being a witch does not necessarily mean being dangerous."

"You are not denying that you are a witch then?" Ichabod asked surprised.

"Why should I? "

"Well, most people would, especially when being accused of murder."

"I have nothing to hide. I did not even know Mrs. Livingston, I do not have any benefits from her death and the times when witches were burned are over."

"Probably because barely anybody believes in witchcraft anymore," Ichabod reasoned.

"You do." It was not a question.

"I only believe in what I have seen and experienced myself and I have experienced the power of magic personally," he answered in a bitter tone.

"So you know a witch?" The old woman asked curiously.

"I thought I knew her." Ichabods voice did not sound bitter anymore, but broken.

"It is an affair of the heart then," the woman smiled.

"It is, in a way. She used a love spell on me. She made me fall madly in love with her, she made me marry her! And the worst thing is that even now, that I know the truth, the spell is not broken."

"You still love her?" She inquired.

"My vexed heart tells me that I love her," he answered bitterly.

"How much time has passed since you last saw your wife?"

"Two nights and one day."

"In this case you will know for sure if your feelings were only created by the charm tonight. Inflicting a love-spell on somebody who does not already have feelings for the witch using the spell is deep dark magic. People always assume that this kind of magic is the most powerful one, but that is not true. A dark magic ritual to create love loses its power when the victim of the spell has not seen the object of his affection for 48 hours. If your wife performed one of those rituals, you will be free of thoughts on her tonight. If she used a white magic ritual, it would not have worked if you did not have feelings for her in the first place. These rituals only serve to reveal suppressed feelings and to give the courage to act on them. If you still feel the same way about this woman tonight, you will know that your love for her is real."

Katrina took her suitcase and gave the hut she loved so much one final glance before she went to town to ask the coachman working for the new owners of the Van Tassel house to bring her to the next pension. The new owners politely invited her to stay for tea and she accepted. In the late afternoon she left with the coachman for the next slightly bigger town with a pension.

They were not far away anymore when Katrina suddenly heard the sound of a galloping horse approaching. She looked out of the window curiously and saw something she thought she would never see again. A few feet behind her and fast approaching was the horseman on his black horse.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Katrina threw the door of the carriage open and warned the coachman: "The Horseman is back! He has nearly reached us!"

By the time she had ended her sentence he was nearly there. Katrina jumped of the carriage and ran as fast as she could. She ran into the forest, glad that the trees had grown to stand very close in this part of the forest. That gave her an advantage towards the Horseman. On feet she could slip through small gaps while the Horseman had to make a detour.

After she had ran for several minutes she couldn't hear the horse's patter anymore. She allowed herself to rest, still listening, but hearing nothing but the normal forest sounds.

Katrina looked around, trying to make out where she was. She was familiar with the forests around her former hometown, she used to play there as a child and when she grew up she took long walks either to gather herbs for her teas or just to enjoy a few hours of solitude.

It didn't take Katrina long to figure out where she was and she remembered that there was an old look-out place for hunters close-by. She would be safe there for a while.

Katrina walked for a few more minutes and found the look-out she was searching for. Once she had climbed up and settled down, she started thinking about the return of the horseman. _Why wasn't he dead? The charm that made him undead should have been lifted after he got his head back and the person who controlled him was dead. Unless her stepmother was not really dead._

Katrina remembered reading about a magic ritual to bind the soul of a person to a place, preventing it from going to the next world. If her stepmother had bound her soul to the Horseman's tree, she would be able to further control him. That meant the only way to stop him and leave him dead for good was to lift the ritual her stepmother must have performed before her death to keep her from dying completely. There was a huge flaw in this plan though. The spell to reverse the one her stepmother had caused was in the book Katrina had given Ichabod back then.

She had to get back into town and contact her husband to ask him if he still had the book. Katrina did not like the idea of a confrontation with Ichabod, who had made it very clear that he did not wish to see her again. She could not be considerate of her hurt feelings though, not when lives were in danger.

Katrina pondered her possibilities. She was near enough to the pension she had been heading to to make it on foot. It would not be a good idea to walk through this deserted area alone in the middle of the night while the Horseman was still after her though. If the coachman had successfully escaped he would get help soon. And if he had not - peace to his soul - they would be sending people out to search for him in the morning. They would assume she had reached the pension and stood there, but they would miss their coachman. Katrina could not help but feel sad at the thought that no one would miss her.

Ichabod Crane was pacing his apartment, nervously looking at the long case clock. It was 9 PM and he was nearly sure Katrina had left earlier two days ago, but still his mind was not completely ready to accept this truth and what it meant. He did not feel different from the way he felt the last two days. He still felt miserable, lonely and ... in love.

"Masbeth!" He called. A moment later the boy came out of his room and looked at him questioningly."Masbeth, what time was it when you brought Miss Katrina to the station?"

Masbeth looked confused, but answered the question. "I do not know exactly which time it was when she left here, but she took the train that left at 8.30, Constable Crane."

Ichabod was not sure if this was the answer he had hoped for or the one he had feared. He was certain though that there was no way to escape his feelings. He loved Katrina and he was now ready to admit that he had already loved her when he first saw her. The logical, scientific side of him did not believe that something like love at first sight existed, but his heart told him something else. He loved Katrina; he always had and probably always would. She was the only person he could open up to, the only human being he would show the emotional part of him. Ichabod knew he needed Katrina, because without her a part of him would be forever lost.

"Do you know where she went?" He asked Masbeth.

"Yes, she was on her way back home. I do not know where she is staying exactly though.

"We have to find out then. Pack a few things; we will take the 10.30 train," Ichabod announced.

"We are going to bring Miss Katrina back then?" Young Masbeth asked excitedly.

Ichabod smiled. He knew Masbeth liked Katrina very much, she had become like an older sister to him and the thought of not seeing her again had hurt the young boy, too.

"Yes, we will bring her home."

It was past midnight when Ichabod and Masbeth arrived at the station, so they decided to search for a night quarter and begin their search for Katrina the next day.

"There is a small pension not far from here. We can take a hansom," Masbeth suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea, young Masbeth."

Ichabod was eager to see his wife, but his logical mind told him that there was no need to wake up everybody who could know where she was. A few hansoms were waiting for clients near the station and they took one, asking to be brought to the nearest pension. They had nearly reached their destination when the coachman suddenly stopped abruptly.

Ichabod opened the door and was going to ask what was wrong, when he saw a terribly familiar scene. In the middle of the street lay a male body without his head. Next to him was a horsewhip, indicating that the man had probably been a coachman, too. _He is back. The Horseman is back, _Ichabod thought alarmed.

He knelt down next to the body when he heard Masbeths frightened voice."Constable Crane! Look what I found!"

Ichabod joined the boy and immediately saw what had scared him that much. On the ground lay a coat Ichabod recognized as Katrina's. He tried to keep his emotions under control and process the scene to understand what had happened here.

"She must have been this man's passenger. She probably took of her coat in the carriage, because it was warm enough in there. When she saw the Horseman approach she must have jumped out and ran away."

"Do you think ..." Mastbeth could not complete his sentence.

"I do not know." He tried and failed to keep his voice steady. "She cannot have made it far on feet; we have to search the area."

Ichabod tried to ban the thought from his mind that they might be searching for another body. He could not allow himself to break down now. If his wife was still out here she needed his help. Ichabod sent their coachman to drive to Sleepy Hollow and get as many volunteers as possible to help them search for Katrina. He doubted that there would be even one person who was willing to come out here when they learned that the Horseman was back though.

Crane turned to Masbeth. "You can go back to town with him, if you want. I cannot ask you to risk your life again."

The boy looked at him decidedly. "Miss Van Tassel has always been kind to me. I will not forsake her."

"Thank you," Ichabod answered with heartfelt gratitude.

Crane followed the trace of broken branches and footprints, indicating that a person had run this way not long ago. It did not take him and Masbeth long to find the look-out place. Cranes heart beat faster, when he saw that the trace ended there.

"Katrina!" He shouted, hoping she was up there, safe.

Katrina did not trust her ears when she first heard her husband's voice. This could not be real, he could not possibly be here! Then she heard the familiar voice again and her heart started beating faster. _He is here! He is really here!_

Excitedly Katrina answered: "I am up here, Ichabod!"

Ichabod sighed in relieve and hurried to climb up the stairs, followed by Masbeth, who managed the task of climbing much more skilful than the Constable.

Eventually, both men had reached their goal."Katrina, are you injured?" Crane asked worriedly.

"No, I am fine. Ichabod, the horseman is back! I saw him!"

She desperately wanted to talk about his feelings for her and if their marriage still had a chance, but she had to tell him about the horseman first.

"I know. We found your carriage and the body of the coach man."

Katrina looked sad, she had hoped the man had managed to escape, too.

"We sent our own coach driver back into town to get help. I doubt he will come back though. Who can blame him."

Ichabod looked at his wife and saw that she was shivering. He took her cloak he was still carrying and gently placed it around her shoulders.

"Thank you," Katrina said softly.

The closeness of the man she loved was intoxicating and both she and Ichabod had completely forgotten young Masbeth's presence.

Katrina could not hold back the question that bothered her any longer.

"Why did you come after me?"

Crane hesitated, thinking about what to tell her and how. "I had a case today, a lethal accident. The victim's neighbor believed that another neighbor who is known to be a witch had something to do with her death. I went to her house to speak with the woman, who assured convincingly that she was not involved in her neighbor's accident. She did not deny being a witch though and was surprised I did not question her magical powers. I told her about you, about what you did to me."

He looked his wife in the eyes and saw heartfelt remorse in them. "The old woman told me that a love-spell cast on a person who does not already have feelings for the witch speaking the spell loses its power within 48 hours. It has been 52 hours and 35 minutes since you boarded the train and I still love you with all my heart," Crane admitted.

Katrina smiled warmly at him. "I love you, too. I have from the moment we first met. I hope you can forgive me. I never meant to hurt you, I was just afraid to lose you."

"I know and I already forgave you, my love. I came here to take you home with me."

Crane took his wife in his arms and kissed her deeply. Katrina returned his kiss with a passion that made his heart beat faster. They both had completely forgotten that a very embarrassed Masbeth was watching them.

After what seemed like an eternity they let go of each other to catch their breaths.

"I am afraid we have to deal with our undead friend before we can go home."

Katrina nodded. "I think I know why he is not really dead. I thought about it the whole time. The only explanation is that my stepmother is still in control of his head. There is a dark magic ritual I read about that allows a witch to bind her soul to a place on earth, preventing her from dieing completely. If she bound her soul to the horseman's tree, she is still able to control him. There is a counter-spell for that ritual, but it is in the book I gave you."

Ichabod smiled and took the book from a pocket on the inside his coat.

"I still wear it above my heart."

Katrina returned his smile, feeling touched that her husband had kept her gift despite their fight. Katrina took the book from him and searched for the spell. Only parts of a few words were missing because of the hole in the middle of the book. She could figure the missing parts out considering the context.

"Let us go then," Katrina said.

"Go where?" Ichabod asked, having a feeling he would not like the answer to this question.

"Back to the horseman's tree, of course," his wife explained.

He had been right; he did not like the answer at all."What will we do when the horseman appears?" He asked worriedly.

"I suggest we run of in different directions, you two distract him and I finish the counter spell."

Crane did not like that plan either, but for once he could not offer a better idea, so he reluctantly agreed.


End file.
